NEWPORT, Rhode Island — The Biden administration’s efforts to crack down on companies for releasing “forever chemicals” into the environment could also help address the problem of disposing of the substances, according to one EPA official.
Clifford Villa, deputy assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, helped draft the agency’s guidance this year on the destruction and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Speaking at the Environmental Council of the States’ fall meeting Wednesday, Villa said that technologies are available “right now” to dispose of PFOA and PFOS, two versions of PFAS that EPA this year classified as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. But scaling them up remains a challenge, he said.
“We have some technologies, but whether or not it is accessible at the level and scale we need today is a real question,” Villa said.
His hope is that EPA’s efforts to hold polluters liable for PFAS releases, including through the Superfund law, could incentivize companies and the Department of Defense to invest in disposal solutions. The department is a sizable contributor to PFAS pollution in some communities.
